21.04.2024

Reuters: Ukraine's military said on Sunday it had struck and damaged a long-serving Russian rescue vessel in Sevastopol, the headquarters in occupied Crimea of Moscow's Black Sea Fleet.

The Telegraph: A German politician was filmed taking large sums of cash from a Kremlin-supporting broadcaster, Czech intelligence has claimed.

POLITICO: Shell-by-shell, Slovaks are bypassing Bratislava and pledging cash for military aid for Ukraine themselves. “We will help Ukraine despite our pro-Russian government,” says Slovak campaign.

Civil Georgia: The State Security Service of Georgia has published its annual report for 2023, according to which the main threat to the country in 2023 remained the Russian occupation of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions of Georgia.

The Kyiv Independent: Poland, Lithuania, and other NATO members, including the U.S., began military exercises around the Suwalki Gap in Lithuania on April 21.

Reuters: In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press", Zelenskiy said the passage of the bill would send a powerful message to Russia that Washington stands by Kyiv and that it would not be "a second Afghanistan."

POLITICO: Sen. Lindsey Graham threw down the gauntlet Sunday, challenging his Republican colleague Sen. J.D. Vance to take a trip to Ukraine and calling on him to “quit talking about things you don’t know anything about until you go.”

ISW: Russian forces will likely intensify ongoing offensive operations and missile and drone strikes in the coming weeks in order to exploit the closing window of Ukrainian materiel constraints.

20.04.2024

Reuters: The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday with broad bipartisan support passed a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, over bitter objections from Republican hardliners.

POLITICO: The U.S. is considering sending additional military advisers to the embassy in Kyiv, the latest show of American commitment to Ukraine as Russia appears to be gaining momentum in the two-year conflict.

Reuters: The U.S. is prepared to act against Chinese companies supporting Russia's war in Ukraine, a senior U.S. official told reporters, highlighting it as an issue Secretary of State Antony Blinken will raise on his trip to China next week.

WP: The House on Saturday approved $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, ending six months of squabbling over continued U.S. funding of the war against Russia. But the diplomatic battle over how to pay the rest of Ukraine’s bills is only getting started (archive).

Reuters: Ukraine attacked eight Russian regions with dozens of long-range strike drones, setting ablaze a fuel depot and hitting three power substations in a major attack early on Saturday, an intelligence source in Kyiv told Reuters.

ISW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signaled Russia’s intent to seize Kharkiv City in a future significant Russian offensive operation, the first senior Kremlin official to outright identify the city as a possible Russian operational objective.

Reuters: Russia's coal shipments to China fell 21% in March dragged down by sanctions and import tariffs, customs data showed on Saturday. However, Russia remained China's top oil supplier in March, data showed on Saturday, as refiners snapped up stranded Sokol shipments.

19.04.2024

The Guardian: More than half of a £900m military fund for Ukraine run by the British Ministry of Defence has not been used because of bureaucratic delays in handing out contracts. The UK-led International Fund for Ukraine counts nine countries among its donors. Critics claim its provision of weapons to the frontline has been slow.

The Kyiv Independent: The Netherlands has allocated more than 200 million euros to new initiatives for quick delivery of air defense and artillery ammunition for Ukraine, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said on April 19.

POLITICO: The G7 sent a pointed warning to Iran on Friday to refrain from sending ballistic missiles to Russia, saying that such a move would trigger "new and significant measures against Iran."

WP: The Pentagon has a massive infusion of military aid for Ukraine “ready to go,” U.S. officials said, once a long-delayed funding measure clears the Senate next week and President Biden signs it into law (archive).

AFP: NATO countries have agreed to give Ukraine more air defences after desperate pleas from Kyiv for advanced systems to shoot down Russian attacks, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said Friday.

The Guardian: A former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service has warned that the discovery of two men suspected of plotting sabotage attacks on military facilities in the country could be just the “tip of the iceberg”.

Reuters: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticised on Friday Chinese support for Russia's defence industry, saying Beijing was currently the primary contributor to Moscow's war in Ukraine through its provision of critical components for weaponry.

AFP: G7 foreign ministers Friday pledged to "bolster Ukraine's air defence capabilities" following a meeting on the Italian island of Capri. In a final statement, they said that they were looking at "all possible avenues and feasible options" to use frozen Russian assets to help Kyiv, ahead of a G7 leaders' summit in June.

LRT: Two people have been detained in Poland on suspicion of attacking Russian opposition activist Leonid Volkov in Vilnius, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda announced on Friday. A Belarusian national working for Russia has also been detained on suspicion of ordering the attack.

Reuters: The European Central Bank is poised to order Italy's UniCredit to cut back its business with Russia, two people with knowledge of the discussions said, as the regulator exerts pressure to choke off European financial ties with Moscow.

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